The former Albertsons' grocery store at SE 122nd Avenue and Division Street.

Food for Thought is a monthly series that examines the progress of the plans to confront economic factors and create a hunger-free Oregon.

At the intersection of SE 162nd and Division you will find a former Safeway supermarket that has sat shuttered and empty since closing its doors in March 2011. At one time, the full-service grocery served as an anchor for the Division Crossing shopping center in Portland’s Centennial neighborhood. Along with the closing of an Albertsons forty blocks away in the Mill Park neighborhood this past winter, these stores’ closings further reduce the options for East Portland residents to do their grocery shopping in an area burdened with food access issues.

The technical definition of the term of a “food desert” is an “area of exclusion where people experience physical and economic barriers to accessing healthy food.” There are arguments that Portland lacks any “true” food deserts, however, the Portland Development Commission (PDC) recently released a report on grocery store distance related to population density and income. This report shows that certain parts of the city struggle with inequities regarding food access, with the expected problem areas found in East, North, and deep SE Portland.

Mayor Adams’ Grocery Store Initiative

The former Safeway grocery store at SE 162nd Avenue and Division Street.

In his 2011 State of the City address, Mayor Sam Adams acknowledged these challenges, pointing out that “approximately 40 percent of Portland residents live at least a mile away from a grocery store.” In the same speech, Mayor Adams tied this geographic barrier to the concept of neighborhood livability and announced the Grocery Store Initiative to “explore ways to make grocery stores financially feasible in under-served areas.”

For the past year, PDC has been tasked with implementing the Grocery Store Initiative. “We did an initial request for information,” explains John Jackley, PDC’s Neighborhood Division Manager. “This resulted in a dozen or so responses from large grocery retailers, as well as from some folks who haven’t even started yet.” One can’t help but wonder if “large grocery retailers” is a code word for Walmart, which has a history of trying to expand further into the Portland market, while studies show that poverty levels increase in areas where Walmart opens stores. “I am aware of their [Walmart's] interest, but they just provided a general submission,” Jackley says. “Besides, that is not our priority. Our priority is community-based solutions to these problems.”

Misplaced Optimism?

Food Front Cooperative Grocery in Northwest District

Certainly, it is encouraging to hear PDC optimistic about the ability to address the lack of available healthy food in certain parts of the city. At the same time, considering that large grocery retailers Safeway and Albertsons weren’t able to keep afloat in these same areas, is the reliance on community solutions perhaps misplaced?

"We realize that there’s not going to be any quick fixes,” Jackley says. “If there were, there would be no need for this initiative. Each store has its own model, and the difference between an unsuccessful Safeway and a successful store might be the use of a different model: co-op, pop-up shops, etc. Again, you’re not going to find any guarantees. But there is sustained commitment from the city and the leadership of the steering committee is community-wide, so I am confident we will help find the solutions that work best for each community.”

In his research on food deserts in Oakland, Portland State University professor Nathan McClintock provides a historical explanation of how the rise of large-scale grocery retailers also resulted in a lack of food options in the country’s inner-city neighborhoods. At one point in our nation’s history, the corner market was ubiquitous, offering the ability to purchase fresh food for dinner on the way home from work. But the economics of grocery retail in the latter half of the 20th century resulted in chain supermarkets driving smaller grocers out of business while pursuing the wealthier customers who had moved out to the suburbs.

As supermarkets controlled nearly three-quarters of the grocery market, small grocers simply could not compete and would often sell or merge with competing chains. In this manner, Safeway closed over 600 less-competitive, inner-city stores from 1978 to 1984, resulting in the boarded-up hull of a former grocery store being a familiar symbol of the American post-industrial city. Considering this history, it would be ironic if a renaissance of new corner markets were to occur, filling the food access gaps caused by the closing of supermarkets in low-income urban areas. At the same time, how can steps be taken to ensure quality of content in any new store, avoiding an influx of candy bars on every corner, all in the name of combating “food deserts?”

Multnomah County’s Healthy Retail Initiative

The purpose of Multnomah County’s Healthy Retail Initiative is to ensure that increased food options also expand access to healthy food. A project originally funded by the Communities Putting Prevention to Work—a $7 million grant for public health projects funded as part of President Obama’s stimulus package—the origins of the Healthy Retail Initiative are found with the county’s HEAL and ACHIEVE coalitions, groups that work to improve the public health of Latino and African-American communities. The Healthy Retail Initiative provides small grants for stores to make investments towards increased freezer and shelf space for healthy products, as well as technical assistance with marketing, produce handling, and developing a business plan.

“It is exciting that there are multiple initiatives that are getting different communities to assist with expanding food access,” says Rachael Banks, a program supervisor for the county’s public wellness efforts. “Right now, we are currently working with existing stores, with 23 store owners [now] able to increase food options that were being requested by their customers.” Funding from a grant provided by Kaiser Permanante will allow an expansion of the initiative, either in its scope or its geographic reach. “Currently our efforts are focused in North, NE and deep SE Portland,” Banks explains. “But we want to move further into East Portland and, eventually, Gresham.”

Combined, these two initiatives address issues regarding quantity and quality of food options in areas that could be considered Portland’s “food deserts.” Together, these initiatives will, according to Banks, “lead to an increased variety of healthy food options in the neighborhoods where people live, work and play.”

Do you live in a food desert? How would you like to see the lack of healthy, affordable food addressed in your neighborhood?

Kyle Curtis received his MPA in sustainable food policy from Portland State University's Hatfield School of Government in 2010. Kyle has helped manage the Montavilla Farmers Market in southeast Portland, served on the steering committee of the Multnomah Food Initiative, and was recently appointed to the Portland-Multnomah Food Policy council. more...

First, I don't believe Portland has any food deserts and second if these big anchor grocery stores are closing it because people are buying there food else where and these stores adjusting to remain competition.

John, Thanks for your comment. I had the same question about why these chains are leaving. Unfortunately, about all you get as an answer from them is these stores were "underperforming". That could mean almost anything from not enough sales to the mix of products the community wants didn't match what the chains offer. My experience is that chains aren't as responsive to a community's demands/tastes as they could be. They may not offer the mix of products a specific community wants. An independent store or different model such as a co-op can be more responsive and tailor it's product mix to local preferences. But that doesn't guarantee they'll succeed. PDC has a challenge defining how the Grocery Store Initiative will address the problem of food access where other businesses have pulled out. A first step would be to understand why Albertson's and Safeway closed these stores.

Larry Williams

February 28th, 2012

Interesting article - thanks to Neighborhood Notes for sharing it. Regarding John's comment - John, I think your points are valid. However, I disagree with you in that Portland has no food deserts. Per the Oregon Public Health Association, a good example of a food desert in the Portland metro area is the area east of I-205.

It's important to remember that a food desert is an area where people cannot get healthy food, in which fast food and the like doesn't count.

Kyle Curtis

February 28th, 2012

@John: "First, I don't believe Portland has any food deserts..." From the story: "There are arguments that Portland lacks any “true” food deserts..." and clearly you side with these arguments. And certainly, when compared with rural Umatilla County where it might be a twenty-mile drive before the closet market, Portland certainly doesn't have similar food deserts. But I can't but be a little curious as to what part of town you might live in. Originally, there was a link to the most recent map of low grocery access in the city limits, but for some reason PDC took it offline. It was an updated map of this one, released a year ago: http://media.oregonlive.com/business_impact/photo/groc1jpg-6604ec843baeb714.jpg There a definitely severe inequities when it comes to the easy access of healthy food around Portland. Certainly, those who live on N. Lombard, in the Cully neighborhood, or in Glenfair Park would not agree with your sentiment that there are no food deserts in Portland, their choice of a five-minute walk to Plaid Pantry notwithstanding. And as for the reason why these stores closed, I can't speak for the Albertsons on 122nd, but I was informed today by a resident in the area that the Division Crossing Safeway closed due to high amounts of theft, according to the Assistant Manager. Of course, theft doesn't only just occur at Safeway, so any new grocery store options that open up in the area are going to need to be vigilant against that. (And as for suggesting that people are simply shopping elsewhere, of course they are. There's a 7-11 nearby, along with some gas stations, etc....)